1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming system, a print data management device, and a method of controlling a print data management device. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for managing history of output operations of formed images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, digitization of information has been promoted and thus image processing apparatuses are inevitable. For example, a printer or a facsimile for outputting digitized information, and a scanner for digitizing documents are used. The image processing apparatus includes an imaging function, an image forming function, a communication function, and the like; and in many cases, the image processing apparatus is of a multi-function peripheral which can be used as a printer, a facsimile, a scanner, and a copy machine.
From among the image processing apparatuses, as a system which uses a printer to output digitized information, a pull print system is known in which a print job generated in an information processing apparatus, such as a personal computer (PC), is stored in a server; and the printer side acquires a print job through access to the server to form and output the image (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-107921).
In the system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-107921, since it is assumed that the server manages the print job, when the server is in a disabled state, it is difficult for the PC to transmit the print job, for the server to store the print job, and for the printer to acquire the print job through access to the server. With a spare server provided, it is possible to solve the above problems, but the problem with such a solution is that introduction and management of a server requires an additional cost. Moreover, since the print job is managed by a plurality of servers, log information is distributed, and thus centralized management cannot be performed.
When the server is in disabled state, a direct print job may be transmitted from the PC to the printer, so outputting of a printing job is not disabled. However, in this case, log information is not left on the server side during the disabled state of the server, so that centralized management of log information cannot be performed.